I have favorite routes I follow: I like to hike down from the drive-in movie theater in the northeast, along the river, past Loot Lake (where there’s a lovely modernist mansion on an island), and up the mountain in the center of the map. There, you get a beautiful view of the landscape, especially when the game’s day cycle ends and twilight throws a purple haze over the view.
That’s Keith Stuart, UK-based journalist, and father of sons, writing in one of the most insightful pieces I’ve read so far about Fortnite.
The media uproar about Fortnite has quieted down a bit. If you have a game-playing tween or teen, they’re probably still playing it. In his tagline, Stuart calls himself a “veteran video game player” so you can be certain he has played a lot of games. From his veteran game player perspective, he’s able to call out what he enjoys about Fortnite—as a game player, but especially as the father of two young game players.
I appreciate his focus on Fortnite as a digital Third Place. (If you’re not familiar with the term, the contributors to the Third place Wikipedia page do a great job of teasing it out). We have an American sociologist, Ray Oldenburg, to thank for introducing us to “third place” in his book The Great Good Place (1989).
Above is a photo of one of my great good places. I took it yesterday while talking over coffee with one of my favorite humans. One day many months ago while standing in line for my single shot latte, I noticed she had the book Brainstorm—The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain by Dr. Dan Siegel out on her table. I told her I loved that book. A conversation opened and we became fast friends.
Where are your Third Places? Where are your tweens’ or teens’ Third Places? How do you experience Third Places with babies or toddlers if you have any? My daughter and her husband and baby were invited to meet up with another parent and his child at a Third Place that was designed as a café for parents and a playspace for children. They came back raving to me about it, and wondering why there aren’t more spaces like it.
Do read the Fortnite piece. It’s not long! It will take you under 10 minutes. The writer challenges you to think about the role of digital Third Places in our kids’ lives and in our own. I’ll be writing about some of my experiences in digital Third Places in a post in the future.
Meanwhile, see if you can spot all the dogs in my Great Good Place (make sure to include these two), write me, and let’s talk about the Third Places in our lives. I’ll schedule “tea” with you in one of my digital Third Places, Zoom. If a few of you write, we’ll have a Zoom “tea party.” ;D
UPCOMING EVENTS
If you’re in the Bay Area on April 6, SF MOMA will be hosting their annual Slow Art Day—an event “that aims to transform the act of viewing art. On a single day each year, people all over the world are encouraged to visit local museums and galleries to look at five pieces of art for an hour or more. After the slow-viewing exercise, participants meet for lunch to talk about their experiences.” I will be facilitating the lunchtime conversation this year. Tickets are $10. You can register here.
